Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Chemical weapons of mass destruction
Chemical weapons of mass destruction
Use of chemical weapons essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Chemical weapons of mass destruction
Chemical weapons Have you ever wondered what weapon is the worst in the world? Well, I think I have the answer. Chemical weapons. They are harmful to us and the environment. Firstly, many people think these weapons are extremely dangerous and life-threatening. Look at Syria, 500,000 people have died from them. It’s so bad that people use it to kill prisoners for their actions. Secondly, nature can be taken out so easily. It wouldn’t be hard to get rid of all the nature in the world. People used it to uncover their enemy’s soldiers and take out their vegetation. Thirdly, they are way too easy to make and way too hard to get rid of. If you think about it, these things are one of the worst weapons in the world. This is why we must get rid of them. …show more content…
Prisoners on their death row have a choice to be killed in a gas chamber. It uses hydrogen cyanide to kill its people. One time when this was used, the prisoner flailed and screamed so much that the warden told the witnesses to leave the observation room. This method has only been used 11 times. Also, if you inhale sarin gas, you will likely die. If you inhale or eat it and it’s around or bigger then the size of a pea, then you need to be treated. Once you see symptoms, you’re usually only minutes away from death. Lastly, we come to phosgene. It’s the most dangerous chemical weapon in the world. It is colourless and it’s hard to tell if you have it in you. After one or two days later, your lungs would fill with fluid and slowly suffocate. Phosgene was responsible for 76,500 to 80,000 deaths in WW1. As you can see chemical weapons are terrible for humans and were just getting
There have been cases where inmates suffer greatly when injected with the deadly concoction. In the guide, “From Critical Thinking to Argument” Zachary Shemtob and David Lat described a case where an inmate showed signs that he was in agonizing pain after being injected with the mixture. Lat and Shemtob wrote, “When another Georgia inmate, Roy Blankenship, was executed in June, the prisoner jerked his head, grimaced, gasped, and lurched, according to a medical expert’s affidavit” (62). Could you imagine being a witness to that? It makes the belief that capital punishment is even more wrong than it was before. Additionally, our eighth amendment is supposed to protect us from cruel and unusual punishment. Blankenship was certainly not given that right. Our government needs to realize that the death penalty extinguishes our protection from cruel and unusual
Some people may consider the death penalty as inhumane. As stated in the article, Naked City, by Rita Radostitz, Texas uses three chemicals in the lethal injection process: sodium thiopental (an extremely short-term anesthetic), pancuronium bromide (which paralyses the diaphragm and other muscles so the inmate is unable to move or speak, even if he is in pain), and potassium chloride (which stops the heart).
The two chemical weapons that were used were: nerve agent and mustard gas. Nerve agent has two main classes that are Class G and Class V. Class V is more new, however less fatal. The specific nerve agent used by the Iraqis is Cyclosarin. Cyclosarin is an extremely toxic substance used as a chemical weapon, which is a member of Class G. Cyclosarin is the most dangerous gas out of both classes. It is known to have a sweet smell and is also flammable unlike other nerve gases. Mustard gas on the other hand is yellow and smells like garlic. Both gases cause death in minutes and have long lasting effects. These can include diseases and other horrible problems. Many of these diseases cannot be cured, for the cells have been damaged and cannot be repaired.
Fries, A. A., & West, C. J. (1921) The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Chemical warfare. New York [etc.] :. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.. Heller, C. E. (1985).
During WWI it was very challenging to distinguish when a gas attack was approaching, given a limited amount of time to cover up and protect against the attack. As for the environment Phosgene gas had no benefits. Phosgene gas would stay in the ground after attacks and, cause pollution. The gas would also effect citizens living in the proximity of battle field as gasses would blow away. Phosgene gas had no immediate symtom. Symptom’s would start manifesting after 48 hours. (compound interest). Symptoms later included: coughing, burning in the throat and eyes, watery eyes, blurred vision, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting (center for prevention). Due to the slow process of symptoms to appear Phosgene was essentially responsible for approsametly 85% of all chemical weapons deaths of WWI (Ranker). It was highly reactive and, toxic with other chemicals this was very dangerous. Simple and inexpensive to produce making it very popular for many divisions
“Between September 1939 and April 1945 concentration camps used poison gases for the benefit of Nazis to investigate different ways to eliminate prisoners.” (wikipedia) The most frequently used method for killing or injuring prisoners was using Mustard Gas and Nerve Gas experiments. “Wounds were inflicted on prisoners by guards to see the effects that the Mustard Gas would have on prisoners.” (Sachsenhausen) Nerve gas was Sarin, which is a volatile liquid which changes into a gaseous state. The Nerve part in Nerve Gas comes from the fact that Sarin inhibits the body’s formation of cholinesterase.
In 1942, Hoss turned two peasant cottages into gas chambers, which was in the crematorium 1,that were equipped with hollowed-out, wire-mesh columns and can hold up to 2,000 victims at a time (Shelton, 2005, p. 99). He would then use the Zyklon pellets in the crowded room and after twenty minutes the victims would be dead. Concentrations of 0.4mg/liter are uncondi...
Stretching back thousands of year’s humans have made death the ultimate punishment for a crime, whether it was stoning or crucifixion. The execution of criminals and political opponents has been used by nearly all societies—both to punish crime and to suppress political dissent. Until recently the death penalty has been known to be gruesome and painful, but in recent years there has been a push towards less harmful forms. The initiation of lethal injection in 1982 has caused an interesting shift in the humanity of such an act, considering the lack of pain induced. When conducting lethal injection the first drug, sodium thiopental, causes the prisoner to become unconscious, the next, pancuronium bromide, paralyses the respiratory system of the prisoner, and the last, potassium chloride, causes the prisoner to go into cardiac arrest inevitably ceasing life. Even with such advances in ‘humane’ practices of execution there is a strong opposition worldwide for such conduct. According to Amnesty International, approximately two-thirds, or 141, countries have completely abolished the use of these
Civilization began with agriculture, and agriculture continues to be an integral part of our lives. Civilization brought knowledge, knowledge brought technology, and technology brought chemicals and pesticides to “improve” our world. “The Obligation to Endure” is an excerpt from Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” a passionate and masterful work on the results of civilization’s efforts to control pests and insects. These effects include destruction of the environment, alteration of gene structures in plants and animals, water contamination, and an upset of nature’s delicate balance. This article is an impassioned plea to the world to understand the threat and demand the information necessary to make an informed consent on use of these deadly substances.
The soviets tested several deadly poisons on prisoners in the gulag like mustard gas, ricin, digitoxin and several others. The soviets wanted and tried hard to find a tasteless and...
El Salvador, 6 April 1992--Three siblings died near the Guazapa volcano last weekend when they stepped on a mine planted during the period of civil warfare. Ironically, their parents had returned to the area only a few days earlier. The children were four, six and eight years old. Parts from the three children's bodies were found as far as 30 metres from the explosion site. (qtd. in Grant 25)
Thesis Statement: A Weapons of Mass Destruction is a significant and viable threat to the United States of America and the government needs to create a strong and adaptive Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive (CBRNE) detection and response framework in order to be able to prevent such an attack from occurring or having the ability to respond quickly and proficiently. 1. What is the goal in this paper? The goal of my paper is to raise an awareness for how viable a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) threat is on our homeland and to reiterate the need of an enhanced Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive (CBRNE) detection and response framework for the United States, or to assess whether or not the current detection and response framework is sufficient. The paper will also provide a suggestion of how the government could improve each of the frameworks if they are not sufficient enough.
Chemical Warfare in WW1: The American Experience, 1917-1918, 10. Retrieved May 18, 2014 from http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/pdf/chemwarfare.pdf Namazi, S., Niknahad, H., & Razmkhah, H. (2009). Long-term complications of sulphur mustard poisoning in intoxicated Iranian veterans. Journal of Medical Toxicology, 5(4), 191–192. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA231350837&v=2.1&u=40mwrlib&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w.
Initially, weapons of mass destruction were only biological and chemical weapons, but at the turn of the 20th century weapon proliferation of these agents picked up drastically. The horizontal and vertical proliferation of weapons have lead to chemical, biological and nuclear weapons too powerful to actually use. Before, weapons proliferation was for the threat of war and to show power but the creation of the atom bomb made it nearly impossible for two countries with nuclear capabilities to wage war on one another without the possibility of it turning into a nuclear war. Even though weapons of mass destruction used to be used to show power and strength, after the creation of nuclear bomb weapons proliferation of these WMD are not only useless, but potentially catastrophic results if countries actually use the nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons proliferation had an effective purpose 50 years ago, but now the stockpiles of nuclear weapons just put the world at risk for total
A weapon, according to Oxford Dictionary, is defined as “a thing designed or used for inflicting bodily harm or physical damage”. Due to the fact that humans have always fought and killed each other, it is hard to determine an exact time in which weapons were first used, but according to ancient cave paintings dating back from 10,000 to 5,000 BC weapons such as bows were used. Over centuries weapons steadily advance till the 16th century when guns were invented. In the beginning of the 19th century a man by the name of Sir William Congreve engineered the first rocket used in warfare. The rocket was not a very good one, it lacked accuracy, but because of a need to have the best and most powerful weapon, improvements and other designs were created which lead to the first super weapons being built. What exactly is a super weapon? A Super weapon is a “very powerful weapon compared to others in its era.” Although many countries have their own different types of super weapons, it has been very rare that a super weapon has been used in history. One of the most well-known uses of a super weapon would be the nuclear bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. Super weapons today are known as weapons of mass destruction. Today any involvement with super weapons is closely monitored. Any country that operates, research, or funds super weapons is observed. The ethical issue involving engineering weapons is “when is it too much?” Weapons have evolved from being just an item for protection, to now having the capacity of annihilating an entire country. Many argue that having a single weapon that could eliminate an entire country is extreme, because the weapon not only eliminates the enemy but also many innocent civili...